1. 1
Group 1
Disparities in Student Achievement in Portland Public High Schools
Motivations
The initial motivation for choosing this topic stems from our group's general
understanding that disparities in student achievement exist within the population of students in
Portland Public Schools high schools. Within the public discourse, the problems are often
attributed to problems in financial resource allocation by the city. The problem is a lack in
funding, which reduces the amount of support for students, and negatively impacts their
academic performance and likelihood of graduation. We would like to explore how these
financial resources are divided in the Portland Public School districts. Specifically, we would
like to uncover how the school demographics vary by district in the areas of racial composition
and socioeconomic class. We feel our research could be applied to the ongoing public discourse
and has the potential to impact public policy.
Aims of Research
We intend to find maps of the Portland Public School district boundaries that best
represent district boundaries and racial composition of the districts. We also intend to find data
on graduation rates, advanced placement program participation and availability, standardized
testing scores, dropout rates, and academy class sizes. We would also like to see how many
students are on free and reduced lunches. The income of parents will be measured by looking at
students who are eligible for free lunches and reduced lunches. Another factor that we wish to
incorporate into our research is looking at individual schools within the Portland Public School
District student to teacher ratios. These ratios are a contributing factor when looking how
resources are allocated within the Portland Public Schools.

2. 2
Literature Review
Each group member was assigned his or her own independent variables to find existing
research. Group members spent time individually researching their assigned variables, and
selected the most relevant articles to bring to the group for further examination. The independent
variables assigned included extracurricular activities, race, gender, school funding, juvenile
delinquency, and parental involvement. All of these variables were paired with student
achievement as a dependent variable. Our group was able to compile a large body of research for
use in focusing the aim and scope of our own research. Drawing from the existing literature, we
have noticed that much of the research has been conducted outside of the Pacific Northwest.
In the existing literature that our group has collected, race has been accounted for using
the categories of black, white, and other; with Hispanic and non-Hispanic not being addressed
specifically. Furthermore, there have been few articles written about the correlation between race
and educational achievement in the Portland, Oregon area specifically. The literature gap that we
are going to focus on is how there is no literature written about the Portland area.
Summary of Articles
Home Influence on School Learning: Direct and Indirect effects of Parental
Involvement on High School Grades, written by Paul Fehrmann, Timothy Keith, and Thomas
Reimers from the University of Iowa in 1987, mainly encompasses parent's involvement with
students and the effects on that student's grades. The independent variable is the parent's
involvement and the dependent variable is the student’s grades. There are also two other
variables taken into consideration, which are time spent on homework and time spent watching
television. Since parent involvement is such a broad term they used the parent's expectation of
school performance, verbal encouragement or interactions regarding school work, general

3. 3
academic guidance and support, direct reinforcement of improved academic performance in
order to measure it. This study consisted of 28,051 high school seniors from the (1980) National
center for education statistics high school and beyond longitudinal study (HSB).
The article entitled Teachers and the Gender Gaps in Student Achievement, written by
Thomas S. Dee, looks at data sets from a number of previous studies addressing student gender,
teacher gender, and student’s academic achievement. He used data from the National
Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) from 1999, which studied 9, 13, and 17-year-old
students test scores, their gender and the gender of their instructor. Dee also used data from the
National Education Longitudinal Study: 1988, which was a two-stage longitudinal study that
began in 1988 with a sample of 24, 599 eighth grade students from 1,052 public and private
schools across the country. The dependent variable in this study is the student test and
assessment scores, the independent variable is teacher gender. The results of the study show that
assignment to a same-gender teacher significantly improves the achievement of both girls and
boys as well as teacher perceptions of student performance and student engagement with the
teacher’s subject.
This article Perceived Parental Investment in School as a Mediator of the Relationship
Between Socioeconomic Indicators and Educational Outcomes in Rural America, takes rural
America and discusses the socio-economic status of parents children who are attending high
school. The purpose of the study was to see if the same patterns that happen in urban areas
happen in rural areas. The results were similar, children that have parents with higher
socioeconomic status are generally going to be more successful at graduating high school then
those that have lesser socio-economic status. The article also found that parental investment is

4. 4
key at the district level and on the individual level. Concluding that investment from parents on
both levels impacts graduation rates positively.
The article by Deslardins et. al. discusses the effect that race has on student graduation
rates. Other mediating variables that the study included were income, age, and overall high
school performance. The study consisted of sampling 12,628 students. The sample was collected
from students in 1984, 1986 and 1991 and the students were studied for six years. The
researchers found empirical evidence to support that Asian Americans have the highest
graduation rate. Whites have the second highest graduation rates followed by Latinos, American
Indians/other with the third highest graduation rates. African Americans have the lowest
graduation rates. The results also showed that those coming from families with higher income
have higher graduation rates overall.
The article Comparison of the educational deficiencies of delinquent and non-
delinquent students discusses how the researchers in this study wanted to look at how education
could possibly prevent and deter delinquent behavior by comparing non-delinquents with
delinquents. They rounded up a sample size of 5,187 delinquent and 5,187 non-delinquent
students and matched them based on age, race, gender, socioeconomic status, exceptionality
status, and school type by creating a case control design. The two groups were then compared in
terms of academic achievement, attendance, and disciplinary problems. They found that
delinquent students experience disproportionate educational deficiencies. Juvenile delinquents
were found to have lower attendance records, lower GPA, and more likely to be retained in the
same grade, and receive more disciplinary actions than their counterparts. This study also shows
how students who attend schools without proper funding or perhaps a lack of teachers or
educational support immediately find themselves at a higher risk to “act out”. It also explains

5. 5
how early intervention and prevention of at-risk youths could deter students from delinquent
actions.
The research entitled Extracurricular Activities and High School Dropouts, by Ralph
B. Mcneal Jr., uses a secondary data analysis design, using statistics that were taken from the
Center for Educational Statistics. A multilevel cluster sampling method was used to draw 735
regular public high schools, with an oversample of selected subgroups. This produced a high
school student sample of 14,249. Using a series of regression models and controlling for
variables such as race, SES, gender, and others, it can be concluded that there is a strong
correlation between extracurricular activities and student dropouts. Students who participate in
extracurricular activities have significantly reduced chances of dropping out of high school
(McNeal).
Variables
After collecting data on a variety of variables pertaining to student educational
achievement the variables that our group is going to focus on for our research are race as an
independent variable and high school graduation as our dependent variable. Our mediating
variables which we wish to include in our study are gender and socio-economic class. The best
measure available as an indicator for socioeconomic status of students in the Portland Public
School District is found in data collected by the US Department of Education, focusing
specifically on student participation in free and reduced lunch programs.
Research Plan
ResearchQuestion
From the research that was collected we found empirical evidence that minority high
school students are disadvantaged in the United States compared to white students. Looking at

6. 6
incidences of graduation, there is evidence that minority students graduate less than white
students. Our group is interested in finding out if this same pattern occurs within the Portland
Public School District's high schools. Do minority high school students in the Portland Public
School system graduate at lower rates than white students?
Hypothesis
Existing research puts forth evidence revealing that African Americans are the most
disadvantaged group within the United States. In other cities around the country, African
American high school students experience the lowest graduation incidences compared to any
other minority group. Based on the findings of existing research showing evidence of racial
disparity among other high schools around the United States, we suspect that this same pattern is
true for the Portland Public School system’s high school's. We wish to examine if this dynamic
is present within the Portland Public Schools high schools or if there are other disadvantaged
minority groups within the Portland Public School District. Furthermore, mediating
relationships exist between the student’s socioeconomic statuses and graduation incidences in
other places, and this most likely holds true for Portland. In examining this relationship, we are
defining socioeconomic status as students who are eligible to receive free lunches or reduced
lunches and also the average household income per school zone.
ResearchDesign
The research design is going to be secondary data analysis. The motivations for our group
choosing secondary data analysis is based on the time constraints of this class. With secondary
data analysis our group feels we will be able to obtain more accurate data pertaining to our
variables that will better suit us in our analysis. Along with the data being more accurate than
collecting our own data, the data is recent data pertaining to the Portland Public School District.

7. 7
This data also gives our group insight into other variables that we would have possibly
overlooked if we were collecting data from a survey.
The data set that our group has found that we are interested in using in our secondary
data analysis was collected by the Oregon Department of Education. The data set has
information about different variables specifically for the Portland Public School District. The
data is collected annually and is aggregate level information. The data set is the most relevant for
the information in which we wish to obtain in order to find empirical evidence to support our
hypothesis.
Extended Literature Review
For the extended literature review all members of the group researched the same
independent variable (race) and dependent variable (graduation from high school). Through
researching the same independent and dependent variables our group was able to examine
different studies which included a variety of mediating variables to further give us a better idea
of what variables we will include in our secondary data analysis.
Summary of Articles
In the article Measuring High School Graduation Rates at the State Level: What
Difference Does Methodology Make? it discusses how there are problems when looking at
graduation numbers from high school when focused on the state level. The authors, Warren and
Halpern-Manners, bring up many different arguments as to why looking at different data
collected through different means can be problematic. The first sample that they analyzed was
collected from the Current Population Survey along with census data of individuals between the
ages of 16 to 24 years old. Through this survey, along with the Digest of Education Statistics,
which is collected by the U.S. Department of Education, the numbers report that close to 90% of

8. 8
students graduated in the year 2000. The authors then looked towards another data set collected
by the State Nonfiscal Survey where only 65-75% of students graduated in the year 2000. The
authors discuss arguments for both sides of the article saying that yes there is an idea of there
being exaggerated dropouts at the state level. Although many believe this argument to be true
Warren and Halpern-Manners found empirical evidence to show that graduation numbers are
much lower than what is actually reported due to errors occur with differences between GED
certification, migration issues across state and the lack of including the youth prison population.
In the article Losing Our Future: How Minority Youths are Being Left Behind by the
Graduation Rate Crisis the authors addressed three main questions; How deep and widespread
are the racial disparities that exist at the state and district levels? Second, how has the misleading
and incomplete reporting of this issue obscured both the magnitude of the crisis and its racial
dimensions? Finally, focusing primarily on the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) legislation, we ask
whether state and federal accountability systems, as implemented, are appropriately structured to
improve high school graduation rates, especially among children of color. The study done
compares data from two major sources, the Center for Educational Statistics and the Current
Population Survey, with "a more accurate method for calculating graduation rates" conducted by
the Urban Institute. The Urban Institute also conducted a 50 state statistical profile, breaking the
statistics down by race, gender, as well as additional statistics for the ten largest districts in the
state. The authors conclude that graduation rates are as low as 30% in some parts of the country,
that there are large numbers of “missing” students that go completely unaccounted for in either
official dropout or graduation rate reports and that the accountability systems in place are not
effective and require much more rigorous regulations.

9. 9
Sociological researchers Kyle Crowder and Scott J. South published an article entitled
Spatial and Temporal Dimensions of Neighborhood Effects on High School Graduation, which
investigates the relationship between a person's exposure to advantaged socio-economic
neighborhoods and high school graduation likelihood. Using a secondary data analysis research
design, the authors look at longitudinal data gathered by the Panel Study of Income Dynamic.
The data includes a sample of 2,254 black and white people born between 1968 and 1980 whom
were tracked over a 25-year period. Their dependent variable is whether these people received a
high school diploma or GED by age 25. Their independent variable was socioeconomic
advantaged neighborhoods, which they found data for in the United States Census records.
Gender was analyzed as a possible mediating variable. The authors have two major findings in
this research. First, for both blacks and whites alike, high school graduation is positively
correlated with exposure to advantaged socioeconomic residential areas. Second, this correlation
more pronounced for whites than for blacks. When gender is factored in, the authors found that
very little disparity existing between genders.
In the article Who graduates? Who doesn’t? A statistical portrait of high school
graduation, class of 2001 offers valuable insight and research into recent trends of high school
graduates across the nation as well as breaking down the results by individual states and by the
four main regions in the United States; Northeast, South, Midwest, and West. The author used
secondary data analysis by using information gathered by the Common Core of Data (CCD),
which was conducted by the U.S. Department of Education. The researcher then used a
Cumulative Promotion Index (PMI) which includes factors like the No Child Left Behind Act
(NCLB), enrollment vs. diploma counts, and uses a two year period of data collecting as opposed
to a typical four year collecting period to help define, discuss and measure high school

10. 10
graduation rates across the nation, region and state respectively. The researcher focused on race
and gender as well as multivariate analysis to determine linkages in socio-economic segregation
and disadvantage. Of the 14,935 school districts across the United States this study used
information gathered from 11,110 districts due to some schools being temporarily closed, shut
down, or district lines being redrawn creating overlapping or inaccurate data. The most notable
and shocking find was the disparity among majority and minority high school graduates. The
results show that Whites and Asian Americans far exceed the graduation rates of their Black,
Hispanic, and Native American peers by roughly 20-25% with Whites and Asian Americans
graduating at a rate of 75-77%. When focusing on specific regions the gap between majority and
minority increased in the Midwest and Northeast with majority students graduating at rates of up
to 50% more than their minority peers. The South and West, with generally overall lower
graduation rates due to lower socio-economic districts and school funding, saw a slightly smaller
disparity among graduating students. When looking at gender gaps of graduation rates the data
shows that female students graduate at 72% while males around 64% with a disparity of 8% that
only varies slightly when looking at U.S. regions specifically. The researcher found that there are
notable and definitive differences in high school graduates and race and socio-economic status
are the key factors in determining a students scholastic success.
In the article Neighborhood Effects in Temporal Perspective: The Impact of Long-
Term Exposure to Concentrated Disadvantage on High School Graduation discusses how certain
neighborhoods have an impact on High School graduation. The article focuses over a seventeen-
year period including a little over four thousand children. Looking at specific aspects of
gentrification the article reflects on how specific neighborhoods have a high dropout rate. The
purpose of the study was to collect long-term data to look at a generation of high school students

11. 11
in specific disadvantaged neighborhoods. Specifically a disadvantaged neighborhood contains
lack of social services, jobs, and a lower socio-economic status level. The study concludes that
race plays an important role in this equation but, the disadvantaged neighborhood seems to be the
determining factor of high school graduation.
High school Graduation Rates in the United States: Implications for the Counseling
Profession by Rebecca Powell Stanard (article written in 2003, but research conducted by J.P.
Green in 2001). This report tries to show that graduation rates are actually quite lower than we
are lead to believe. He also points out that the top four schools in graduation rates, are
predominantly white, but at the same time those same schools had some of the lowest minority
graduation rates. The data was collected from the 50 largest school districts in the country.
Through his methods he shows that schools like to skew the facts to make it seem like they are
doing far better than they really were. In 1998 the National Center for Educational Statistics
(NCES) showed an 86% high school completion rate whereas in Greene’s study it was 74%. For
Greene’s research he did not accept GEDs towards his formula insisting that GEDs are not the
equivalent to a regular high school diploma because it does not show the “success of high
schools at graduating students”. When those who had graduated with GED’s were removed
Greene also found that the numbers of whites and Latinos were similar to the statistics that
NCES had, but that those for African Americans were quite different. He attributes this by
saying that NCES gets information from the Current Population Survey (CPS) and that coverage
bias and self-report bias. There was also discrepancy with the event dropout rate (the percentage
of students who drop out within a given year) and he found that 37 out of 50 states reported this
information and that out of those 37 only 27 adhered to the standards definition and collection

12. 12
procedures set by the NCES. He also noted that quite often data was missing and that it could not
be used to calculated dropout rate.
List of Variables
Independent Variable
 Race
Dependent Variable
 Graduation from high school
Mediating Variables
 Socio-economic class:
o Students who are eligible to receive free lunches
o Students who are eligible to receive reduced lunches
o Student to teacher ratio
Data Description
Data
The target population for our study is high school students enrolled in Portland Public
High Schools. The data set our group will be conducting secondary data analysis with was
collected by the Oregon Department of Education. Faculty from each school in the Portland
Public School district are required to submit annual information describing the performance of
their students. The data collected is then compiled into a “report card” system which determines
whether schools meet requirements at the state and federal levels. The data set we are looking at
is from the 2010-2011 school year. The data includes all individuals who were enrolled in a high
school within the Portland Public School District. There are eight high schools in the Portland
Public School District: Benson, Cleveland, Franklin, Grant, Jefferson, Lincoln, Madison and

13. 13
Wilson. Benson student body was 952 students in 2010-2011. Cleveland total number of
students 1,593 in 2010-2011. Franklin student body was 1,011 students in 2010-2011. Grant
student body was 1,567 students in 2010-2011. Jefferson student body was 573 students in 2010-
2011. Lincoln student body was 1,387 students in 2010-2011. Madison student body was 576
students in 2010-2011. Wilson student body was 1,407 students in 2010-2011. The total number
of students enrolled in the eight Portland Public High Schools is 9,066 students from the 2010-
2011 school year.
Portland
Public
High
Schools
Benson Cleveland Franklin Grant Jefferson Lincoln Madison Wilson
Total
Number
of
Student
(2010-
2011)
952 1,593 1,011 1,567 573 1,387 576 1,407
Measures
The independent variable we are focusing our main research question and hypothesis
around is race. Our data set defines race into different categories, which include American
Indian/Alaskan Native, Asian/Pacific Islander, Black (not of Hispanic origin), Hispanic, White
(not of Hispanic origin), and Multi-Racial/Multi Ethnic. Our dependent variable is whether or
not students graduate from high school within four years of attending. The cohort graduation
rates are recorded from students who entered into a Portland Public high school in the years
2006-2007 and graduated within four years from the given school they were attending.
The mediating variables we are going to include in our study are measured in the
following ways. For defining socio-economic class we are going to look at how many students

14. 14
are eligible for free lunches, how many students are eligible for reduced lunches, average
household income, and student to teacher ratio. The state requirements for students who are
eligible for free lunches must be living in a household who earns $14,157 or less per child. With
each additional child the family must add $4,966. The state requirements for students who are
eligible for reduced lunches must be living in a household who earns $20,147 or less per child.
With each additional child the family must add $7,067. The student to teacher ratio is collected
by taking the total number of students at a given school and divided by the number of teachers at
the same school.
Children from households whose income is at or below the following levels are eligible for free
or reduced price meals or free milk:
Reduced Price Meals
Household Size Annual Monthly Twice Per
Month
Every Two
Weeks
Weekly
-1- 20,147 1,679 840 775 388
-2- 27,214 2,268 1,134 1,047 524
-3- 34,281 2,857 1,429 1,319 660
-4- 41,348 3,446 1,723 1,591 796
-5- 48,415 4,035 2,018 1,863 932
-6- 55,482 4,624 2,312 2,134 1,067
-7- 62,549 5,213 2,607 2,406 1,203
-8- 69,616 5,802 2,901 2,678 1,339
For each additional family
member add
7,067 589 295 272 136

15. 15
Free Meals/Free Milk
Household Size Annual Monthly Twice Per
Month
Every Two
Weeks
Weekly
-1- 14,157 1,180 590 545 273
-2- 19,123 1,594 797 736 368
-3- 24,089 2,008 1,004 927 464
-4- 29,055 2,422 1,211 1,118 559
-5- 34,021 2,836 1,418 1,309 655
-6- 38,987 3,249 1,625 1,500 750
-7- 43,953 3,663 1,832 1,691 846
-8- 48,919 4,077 2,039 1,882 941
For each additional family
member add
4,966 414 207 191 96
Data Analysis Part One
Coding Variables
Total Number of Students: TOTSTUD
Number of Teachers: NTEACH
Student to Teacher Ratio: STRAT
Students eligible for reduced lunches:
REDLUN
Students eligible for free lunches: FRELUN
American Indian/Alaskan Native: AIAN
Asian/Pacific Islander: ASPI
Black (not of Hispanic origin): BLACK
Hispanic: HISPAN
White (not of Hispanic origin): WHITE
Multi-Racial/Multi Ethnic: MRME
The data that we took for all these variables are compiled into the follow table:

16. 16
Benson Cleveland Franklin Grant Jefferson Lincoln Madison Wilson
Total # students 952 1593 1011 1567 573 1387 576 1407
# of teachers 51.9 69.5 52.6 68 44.1 63.6 48.9 63
Ratio 18.343 22.921 19.221 23.044 12.993 21.808 11.779 22.333
Reduced Lunch 99 80 104 65 45 28 91 52
Free Lunch 501 337 373 307 394 145 493 245
American
Indian/Alaskan
Native
80 44.4 60 25 * 100 33.3 40
Asian/Pacific
Islander
83.5 61.1 70.7 72.2 50 69.2 60.7 80
Black (non-
hispanic)
72.5 37 70 70.5 54.8 60 40.6 63.6
Hispanic 69.7 53.2 76.7 63.3 35.3 64.3 45.2 62.1
White (non-
hispanic)
79.7 72.3 66.2 85.1 35.7 84.3 60.2 76.2
Multi-
Racial/Multi-
Ethnic
75 78.6 71.4 81.8 100 75 33.3 57.1

17. 17
Meanand Standard Deviations of Averaged Student Cohort Graduation Rates by Racial
Categories for the eight Portland Public High Schools
Cohort graduation rates by Race (All Schools) Frequencies (n) Mean S.D.
American Indian/Alaskan Native 7 54.6714 27.0262
Asian/Pacific Islander 8 68.425 10.91575
Black (non-hispanic) 8 58.625 13.61058
Hispanic 8 58.725 13.46495
White (non-hispanic) 8 69.9625 16.28882
Multi-Racial/Multi-Ethnic 8 71.525 19.49306
Total # students 9066 1133.25 415.9398
# of teachers 461.6 57.7 9.48894
Ratio 152.442 19.0553 4.46262
Reduced Lunch 564 70.5 27.44865
Free Lunch 2795 349.375 119.988
The frequencies is the total number (n) of how many data numbers we have for each
racial category. Since we pulled aggregate level information for the eight Portland Public High
School there are 8 frequencies for each racial category. For American Indian/Alaskan Native the
frequency is only 7 because of one missing data number. The reason for there only being 7 is
because one school did not disclose the racial information for American Indian/Alaskan Native
to ensure the student’s confidentiality.
After imputing the data from the Oregon Department of Education our group found the
mean and standard deviation for the different racial categories. We took the cohort graduation
rates from the eight different Portland Public High Schools and found the average for the

18. 18
individual racial categories. From the descriptive statistics we can see that the racial group with
the highest cohort graduation rate within the Portland Public High Schools are those who identify
as being multi-racial/multi-ethnic. The mean for multi-racial/multi-ethnic is 71.525%. What this
means is that the average number of students who identify as multi-racial/multi-ethnic graduate
from high school in four years is 71.525% of the time. The racial category with the lowest cohort
graduation rate is those who are American Indian/Alaskan Native. American Indian/Alaskan
Native students who graduated in four years from a Portland Public High School graduated
54.67%.

19. 19
Data Analysis Part Two
Model 1 Model 2 Model 3
Coefficient S.E. sig. Coefficient S.E. sig. Coefficient S.E. sig.
Constant 63.246 10.143 0.001 63.395 10.585 0.002 97.887 148.212 0.545
REDLUN -0.624 1.186 0.618
REDLUN 1.094 2.702 0.702
FRELUN -0.327 0.457 0.507
REDLUN 1.453 3.373 0.689
FRELUN -0.6 1.277 -1.195
STRAT -1.384 5.929 -0.454
R-Square 0.044 0.133 0.144

20. 20
References:
Crowder, Kyle and South, Scott J. “Spatial and temporal dimensions of neighborhood effects on
high school graduation” Social Science Research. , 40, pp. 87-109 (2011).
Dee, Thomas S. "Teachers and the Gender Gap in Student Achievement" The Journal of Human
Resources, pp. 528-554. (1999)
DesJardins, Stephen L; Ahlburg, Dennis; McCall, Brian. “The Effects of interrupted enrollment
on graduation from college: Racial, income, and ability differences” (2004)
Fehrmann, Paul G.; Keith, Timothy Z.; Reimers, Thomas M.. “Home influence on School
Learning: Direct and Indirect Effects of Parental Involvement on High School Grades”
The Journal of Educational Research. Vol. 80, No. 6 (1987)
http://www.jstor.org/stable/27540261
Henry, Kimberly; Cavanagh, Thomas; Oetting, Eugene. “Perceived Parental Investment in
School as a Mediator of the Relationship Between Socio-Economic Indicators and
Educational Outcomes in Rural America” Journal of Youth Adolescence. Vol. 40, No.
9. (2011)
McNeal Jr., Ralph B. Extracurricular activities and high school dropouts. Sociology of
Education, Vol. 68, No. 1 (1995) pp. 62-80
Orfield, G., Losen, D., Wald, J., Swanson, C. (2004). "Losing Our Future: How Minority Youth
are Being Left Behind by the Graduation Rate Crisis" The Civil Rights Project at
Harvard University, The Urban Institute, Advocates for Children of New York, The
Civil Society Institute.
http://www.urban.org/UploadedPDF/410936_LosingOurFuture.pdfof cthwjlosearyo
Stanard, Rebecca P. "High School Graduation Rates in the United States: Implications for the
Counseling Profession." Journal of Counseling and Development 81.2 (2003): 217-21.
Print.
Swanson, C.B. (2004). “Who graduates? Who doesn’t? A statistical portrait of high school
graduation, class of 2001.” The Urban Institute, The Educational Policy Center.
http://www.urban.org/publications/410934.html
Wang, X. , Blomberg, T.G., & Spencer, D.L. (2005). “Comparison of the educational deficiences
of delinquent and nondelinquent students”. Evaluation Review. 29 (4). DOI:
10.1177/0193841X05275398
Warren, John Robert; Halper-Manners, Andrew. “Measuring High School Graduation Rates at
the State Level: What Difference Does Methodology Make?” Sociological Methods
and Research, Vol. 38, No. 1 (2009)

21. 21
Wodtke, G. T. (2011). Neighborhood Effects in Temporal Perspective: The Impact of Long-
Term Exposure to Concentrated Disadvantage on High School Graduation. American
Sociological Review, 713-736